In early Tuesday trading in the Far East, gold didn’t do much of anything until shortly before 11:00 a.m. in the morning in Hong Kong. From that point, gold got sold off about $8 in an hour. Not a lot, but a pretty big move for the usually quiet Far East market. As it turned out, that was the low for world gold for the day. A quick retest of that price at 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…and gold was on its way higher…and the US$ much lower. This lasted through London trading, but ran into the usual brick wall at the Comex open in New York. Once the London p.m. gold fix was in at 3:00 p.m. [10:00 a.m. in New York]…down went the price.

This didn’t last long, and minutes before London closed for the day, a rally began that lasted almost until the end of Comex trading…and

Well, with the US$ down a half a cent, and decent gains in both platinum and palladium, you have to be pretty much brain dead not to have seen the footprints of the Gold Cartel in the gold and silver markets yesterday.

It all started the moment that Sydney closed on Monday afternoon…1:00 a.m. Monday in New York. From that point on, only Hong Kong [and the New York Bullion Banks] is a player. As I’ve said before, the New York banks [or their agents] can, and do, enter the markets whenever they want.

Gold sold off about five bucks with a smallish rally starting shortly after 12:00 noon in London. That lasted until the equity markets opened at 9:30 in New York…and then it was lights out…as gold got hit for $11 bucks. Once London closed for the day, the pressure was on again [both in Globex trading and electronic trading

Well, the gold chart looked pretty bleak very early Friday morning…with gold touching the $880 level in London as I turned my computer off from writing Friday’s rant. I must admit that I turned the computer back on about lunch time yesterday with some fear and trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised that the price I’d seen last night [just before the London a.m. fix] was the low tick of the day. From there it worked its way a few dollars higher…right into Comex floor trading in New York.

But a tiny attempt to run to the upside into positive price territory, that started just before noon Eastern, ran into another not-for-profit seller about an hour later. From there, gold sold off quietly into the close of electronic trading on the Globex. According to the usual New York commentator, estimated volume was 50,990 lots with a switch effect of 7,874 contracts.

Although it

Both gold and silver were comatose all night long in the Far East…and all through European trading once again. However, the moment that the London p.m. fix was in, both metals’ prices went vertical. Silver got capped before it hit $13…but gold managed to close above $900, and is now above $910 as I write this. As I said yesterday…Friday is options expiry…so be ready for anything. But even I wasn’t expecting that. Today’s New York price action should be enlightening.

Needless to say, Ted Butler and I had a discussion about yesterday’s goings-on. His guess [and it's only a guess] is that the ‘four or less’ traders in the Commercial category of the Commitment of Traders…all bullion banks…have covered all the shorts they can by rigging the price to the downside…and now they’re forced to cover their shorts in silver and gold by buying in the open market. This action

Gold was under pressure right from the open in Sydney on Wednesday morning. This pressure accelerated once London was open for business. The bottom was in about fifteen minutes after Comex floor trading began in New York. A rally began that was highlighted by a big spike in the price around the time of the London p.m. fix. Was it that…or Geithner’s lips moving? The top price of the day arrived shortly after Comex trading ended and electronic trading commenced. All in all, a very interesting 24 hours.

The usual N.Y. commentator had this to say about yesterday’s activities…”Wednesday’s dramatic Comex session was notable for huge volume–particularly before the Geithner “Open Mouth/Insert Foot” incident. By 10 a.m., 117,039 lots were estimated to have traded, with gold being successfully contained. A spike after the Geithner report carried April gold to up $18.20 on the day…although this was partially eroded on very heavy

Despite gold’s best attempts to rally in the Sydney market, a determined seller took the price down once Hong Kong opened. It rallied a bit until 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong (midnight in New York) and then got sold off again until shortly after London opened. A rally commenced until shortly after the Comex opened…and that was it for the day…as gold was capped every time it tried to rally over $980. Estimated volume was 121,349 contracts, with a switch effect of 8,040.

Silver was similar…with its top price coming at 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong. A small rally in London was crushed…as silver came under selling pressure about an hour before the Comex opened. After the Comex close, silver did manage to gain a bit in electronic trading on the Globex.

The precious metals trading pattern sure looked like prices wanted to rise, but were beaten into submission by one or

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